Carving Out: Isolating the True Effect of Self-Interest on Policy Attitudes

2020 ◽  
Vol 114 (4) ◽  
pp. 1103-1116
Author(s):  
JAKE HASELSWERDT
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Experimental Study ◽  
Student Debt ◽  
True Self ◽  
Older Americans ◽  
Policy Proposal ◽  
Policy Attitudes ◽  
Self Interest ◽  
Relief Program ◽  
Policy Proposals

How important is self-interest in people’s opinions about public policy? If a policy proposal exempts a subset of the target group from costs that others will have to pay, or denies them benefits that others will enjoy, do they respond according to self-interest? This experimental study distinguishes between true self-interest and affinity for one’s in-group by exploiting a common feature of policy proposals: age-based “carve-outs” that prevent otherwise similar subgroups of a population from being affected by the benefits or burdens of a new policy (e.g., cuts to an old-age program that exempt people above a certain age). I find self-interest effects for older Americans exempt from cuts to Medicare and younger people too old to benefit from a hypothetical student debt relief program. These effects vary in ways that are consistent with extant theory.

The Implications of Political Trust for Supporting Public Transport

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-19
Author(s):  
JAE YOUNG LIM ◽  
KUK-KYOUNG MOON
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Public Policy ◽  
Public Transport ◽  
Social Equity ◽  
Political Trust ◽  
The United States ◽  
Negatively Associated ◽  
Social Surveys ◽  
Pooled Data ◽  
Policy Attitudes

Abstract Despite the importance of public transport for urban vitality, social equity, and mobility, the discussions surrounding these topics have become heated ideological battles between liberals and conservatives in the United States, as in other countries. Conservatives, in particular, have exhibited anti-transit attitudes that have worked against the development of public transport. Scholars note that political trust functions as a heuristic and its impact is felt more strongly among individuals who face ideological risks with respect to a given public policy. Based on several studies noting the relationships between political trust, ideology and policy attitudes, the study employs the pooled data of the 2010 and 2014 General Social Surveys. It finds that conservatives are negatively associated with supporting spending on public transport, but when contingent upon high levels of political trust, they become more supportive of it. The study discusses the potential of political trust as a mechanism to influence public policy discourses as well as certain methodological and substantive limitations.

scholarly journals Framing the Issue

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 725-725
Author(s):  
Brian Lindberg
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Policy Development ◽  
Active Role ◽  
Legislative Process ◽  
Washington Dc ◽  
Older Americans ◽  
Older Americans Act ◽  
Key Stakeholders

Abstract The GSA Public Policy Advisor will facilitate a discussion about the 2020 reauthorization of the Older Americans Act with key stakeholders from Washington, DC. Also, the presentation will include perspective on GSA's active role in policy development and the legislative process.

How Can Economic Interests Influence Support for Free Trade?

2012 ◽  
Vol 66 (2) ◽  
pp. 311-328 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benjamin O. Fordham ◽  
Katja B. Kleinberg
Keyword(s):  
Trade Policy ◽  
Free Trade ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Economic Interests ◽  
Policy Attitudes ◽  
Self Interest ◽  
Close Relationship ◽  
Direction Of Causation ◽  
Complete Account

AbstractRecent research on the sources of individual attitudes toward trade policy comes to very different conclusions about the role of economic self-interest. The skeptical view suggests that long-standing symbolic predispositions and sociotropic perceptions shape trade policy opinions more than one's own material well-being. We believe this conclusion is premature for two reasons. First, the practice of using one attitude to predict another raises questions about direction of causation that cannot be answered with the data at hand. This problem is most obvious when questions about the expected impact of trade are used to predict opinions about trade policy. Second, the understanding of self-interest employed in most studies of trade policy attitudes is unrealistically narrow. In reality, the close relationship between individual economic interests and the interests of the groups in which individuals are embedded creates indirect pathways through which one's position in the economy can shape individual trade policy preferences. We use the data employed by Mansfield and Mutz to support our argument that a more complete account of trade attitude formation is needed and that in such an account economic interests may yet play an important role.1

scholarly journals The ideological use and abuse of Freiburg’s ordoliberalism

Public Choice ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Malte Dold ◽  
Tim Krieger
Keyword(s):  
Dynamic Game ◽  
Academic Discourse ◽  
The Political ◽  
Eurozone Crisis ◽  
Economic Problems ◽  
Self Interest ◽  
Active Research ◽  
Active Research Program ◽  
Policy Proposals ◽  
Freiburg School

AbstractIn the aftermath of the Eurozone crisis, a battle of ideas emerged over whether ordoliberalism is part of the cause or the solution of economic problems in Europe. While German ordoliberals argued that their policy proposals were largely ignored before, during and after the crisis, critics saw too much ordoliberal influence, especially in form of austerity policies. We argue that neither view is entirely correct. Instead, we observe that the battle of ideas is largely independent of the countries’ actual responses to the Eurozone crisis: pragmatic self-interest on behalf of governments rather than their ideological convictions played a crucial role in political reactions. We explain this dynamic game-theoretically and highlight a number of reasons for the decoupling of the political-pragmatic debate from the ideological-academic discourse. In addition, we argue that ordoliberals themselves contributed to the ideological misuse of their own program: the ordoliberal Freiburg School ceased to be an active research program and instead grew to resemble a tradition which all too often disregarded the international academic discourse, in particular in macroeconomics. As a result, ordoliberal thinking was abused by its proponents and critics alike to emphasize their preconceived Weltanschauung (worldview). We end our paper with some thoughts on how a contemporary ordoliberalism can be constructively used to react to some of the challenges of the ongoing Eurozone crisis.

scholarly journals Public Opinion and Public Policy in Advanced Democracies

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher Wlezien
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Public Opinion ◽  
Voting Behavior ◽  
Descriptive Representation ◽  
Political Systems ◽  
Roll Call ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
The Public ◽  
Self Interest ◽  
The Government

The representation of public opinion in public policy is of obvious importance in representative democracies. While public opinion is important in all political systems, it is especially true where voters elect politicians; after all, opinion representation is a primary justification for representative democracy. Not surprisingly, a lot of research addresses the connection between the public and the government. Much of the work considers “descriptive representation”—whether the partisan and demographic characteristics of elected politicians match the characteristics of the electorate itself. This descriptive representation is important but may not produce actual “substantive representation” of preferences in policy. Other work examines the positions of policymakers. Some of this research assesses the roll call voting behavior of politicians and institutions. The expressed positions and voting behavior of political actors do relate to policy but are not the same things. Fortunately, a good amount of research analyzes policy. With but a handful of exceptions noted below, this research focuses on expressed preferences of the public, not their “interests.” That is, virtually all scholars let people be the judges of their own interests, and they assess the representation of expressed opinion no matter how contrary to self-interest it may seem.

Philosophical Impediments to Citizens’ Use of Science

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan Baron
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Nature Of Science ◽  
Main Role ◽  
Policy Issues ◽  
Proper Role ◽  
Self Interest ◽  
The Future ◽  
The Creation ◽  
Moral Rules

This chapter discusses three impediments to proper use of science in the creation of public policy. First, citizens and policymakers follow moral rules other than those that involve consequences, yet the main role of science in policy is to predict outcomes. Second, citizens believe that their proper role is to advance their self-interest or the interest of some narrow group, thus ignoring the relevance of science to policy issues that affect humanity now and in the future. Third, people fail to understand the nature of science as grounded in actively open-minded thinking, thus giving it an advantage over some alternative ways of forming beliefs.

scholarly journals A theory of public wellbeing

2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew Fisher
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Public Policy ◽  
Social Change ◽  
Social Cognition ◽  
Social Determinants ◽  
Policy Agenda ◽  
Social Environments ◽  
Basic Functions ◽  
Policy Proposals

Abstract Background Wellbeing is seen as a matter of concern for governments and public policy. However, current theories on wellbeing are not well placed to inform this concern, because they fail to take account of and explain evidence on social determinants of mental health. Discussion This article proposes a new theory of public wellbeing which does takes account of such evidence, by explaining the role of stress within three basic functions of social cognition. Building on this description, the article then proposes that wellbeing consists in seven basic abilities, which are always developed and exercised (or not) through constant processes of interaction between individual and environment. The article explains why contemporary theories on wellbeing are poorly placed to inform public policy for wellbeing. It also positions the proposed theory in relation to evidence on social determinants of health (SDH) and the associated public policy agenda. It is argued the proposed theory of wellbeing extends on and challenges the SDH policy agenda in relation to the normative target of policy proposals, factors identified as determinants, impacts of determinants on populations, and proposals for political and social change. Conclusion Improved theory on public wellbeing can inform policy for wellbeing because it explains the contingent nature of wellbeing within contemporary social environments, and extends understanding of social determinants of wellbeing.

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